This study aims to explore tourism advertising using specialized mobile applications and its impact on increasing tourism demand for the services of tourism organizations in Al-Kharj Governorate, the ...Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In order to do so, the descriptive-analytical approach, which is consistent with the nature of the study, was used with a questionnaire form distributed to the targeted study sample of 150 forms. Different statistical methods have been used to test the study’s hypothesis. The study reached a wide range of results, the most important of which is the existence of an impact of tourism advertising by using specialized mobile applications on increasing demand for the services of travel and tourism organizations in Al-Kharj Governorate. Furthermore, a series of recommendations were provided, the most important of which is the need to catch up with technology and recent developments in the field of tourism advertising.
Context. The demand for green software design is steadily growing higher especially in the context of mobile devices, where the computation is often limited by battery life. Previous studies found ...how wrong programming solutions have a strong impact on the energy consumption. Objective. Despite the efforts spent so far, only a little knowledge on the influence of code smells, i.e.,symptoms of poor design or implementation choices, on the energy consumption of mobile applications is available. Method. To provide a wider overview on the relationship between smells and energy efficiency, in this paper we conducted a large-scale empirical study on the influence of 9 Android-specific code smells on the energy consumption of 60 Android apps. In particular, we focus our attention on the design flaws that are theoretically supposed to be related to non-functional attributes of source code, such as performance and energy consumption. Results. The results of the study highlight that methods affected by four code smell types, i.e.,Internal Setter, Leaking Thread, Member Ignoring Method, and Slow Loop, consume up to 87 times more than methods affected by other code smells. Moreover, we found that refactoring these code smells reduces energy consumption in all of the situations. Conclusions. Based on our findings, we argue that more research aimed at designing automatic refactoring approaches and tools for mobile apps is needed.
A web survey of college students was conducted to examine whether online political expression moderates the effects of political media use on political participation. Results showed that online ...political expression enhanced the effects of political mobile apps, traditional offline and online media, and social media on political participation. Implications are discussed for a mobilizing role of online media in the democratic process for young adults.
There are an increasing number of mobile apps available for adolescents with mental health problems and an increasing interest in assimilating mobile health (mHealth) into mental health services. ...Despite the growing number of apps available, the evidence base for their efficacy is unclear.
This review aimed to systematically appraise the available research evidence on the efficacy and acceptability of mobile apps for mental health in children and adolescents younger than 18 years.
The following were systematically searched for relevant publications between January 2008 and July 2016: APA PsychNet, ACM Digital Library, Cochrane Library, Community Care Inform-Children, EMBASE, Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Social Policy and Practice, Web of Science, Journal of Medical Internet Research, Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, and OpenGrey. Abstracts were included if they described mental health apps (targeting depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, self-harm, suicide prevention, conduct disorder, eating disorders and body image issues, schizophrenia, psychosis, and insomnia) for mobile devices and for use by adolescents younger than 18 years.
A total of 24 publications met the inclusion criteria. These described 15 apps, two of which were available to download. Two small randomized trials and one case study failed to demonstrate a significant effect of three apps on intended mental health outcomes. Articles that analyzed the content of six apps for children and adolescents that were available to download established that none had undergone any research evaluation. Feasibility outcomes suggest acceptability of apps was good and app usage was moderate.
Overall, there is currently insufficient research evidence to support the effectiveness of apps for children, preadolescents, and adolescents with mental health problems. Given the number and pace at which mHealth apps are being released on app stores, methodologically robust research studies evaluating their safety, efficacy, and effectiveness is promptly needed.
Libraries and medical libraries should strive to become well-versed in mobile apps because they are dynamic tools that actively engage users in learning and are outstanding reference resources. ...Mobile apps are one of many resources that health care professionals interested in teaching and learning should use to bolster their understanding of medical material. For new students, residents, physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals, being well-informed about existing and emerging mobile apps for learning is a vital tool for knowledge acquisition.
•Taxonomy of behavior-change applications.•Designing effective behavior change interventions based on the Self-Determination Theory.•Behavior change apps that support Self-Determination Theory Basic ...Psychological Needs for human motivation.
Nowadays, thousands of popular applications are designed to help users improve their lives through behavioural adjustment (e.g., meditate more, stay hydrated). However, our understanding of how certain design features align with constructs of behavior theories remain limited. We analyze 208 apps from the Apple App Store and identified 12 design features afforded by current tools that we classified according to the Self-Determination Theory. The taxonomy reported in this paper, we argue, provides a simple tool for designers to evaluate how specific features, and combination of features, may work to motivate users towards their desired goals. Additionally, the presented taxonomy is intended to help researchers test new interventions by discussing relevant research gaps.
This study extends the “Uses and Gratifications” approach (U&G) from a web context to a new one, i.e. mobile applications. It seeks to investigate the effect of the key benefits generated from ...interacting with branded mobile apps on consumer satisfaction and purchase intentions. A self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect the study data. The questionnaire was distributed to 358 participants inside seven major malls in a Middle Eastern country (Jordan). Purposive sample was employed. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (AMOS 18). Four key findings emerged from the current research. First, the study confirms the existence of four interaction-based benefits in the context of mobile apps, namely: learning benefits, social integrative benefits, personal integrative benefits and hedonic benefits. Second, apart from social integrative benefits, the other three benefits are found to influence consumer satisfaction to varying degrees. Third, with regard to purchase intentions, only learning benefits and hedonic benefits are found to generate that. Finally, the study confirms the relationship between consumer satisfaction and purchase intentions in a mobile context. The study contributes to the literature through adopting the U&G approach as a theoretical base to examine the key benefits that consumers gain when interacting with branded mobile apps.
The mobile application (app) industry has grown tremendously over the past ten years, primarily fueled by small app development businesses. Lacking advertising budgets, these small and relatively ...unknown businesses often offer free versions of their paid apps to be noticed in the crowded app industry and to reduce customer uncertainty about app quality and fit. The authors build on the existing marketing and information systems literature on sampling and versioning to investigate the implications of offering free versions for the adoption speed of paid apps. Using a unique data set of 7.7 million observations from 12,315 paid apps, and accounting for endogeneity, the authors find that although the practice of offering free versions of paid apps is popular, it is negatively associated with paid app adoption speed. They also find that this negative association between free version presence and paid app adoption speed is stronger both for hedonic apps and in the later life stages of paid apps. The authors hope that the study's results will encourage app developers to reevaluate their current strategy of offering free versions of paid apps and prompt academics to produce more work focusing on this industry.
Smartphone apps are a promising tool for delivering accessible and appealing physical activity interventions. Given the large growth of research in this field, there are now enough studies using the ..."gold standard" of experimental design-the randomized controlled trial design-and employing objective measurements of physical activity, to support a meta-analysis of these scientifically rigorous studies.
This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the effectiveness of smartphone apps for increasing objectively measured physical activity in adults.
A total of 7 electronic databases (EMBASE, EmCare, MEDLINE, Scopus, Sport Discus, The Cochrane Library, and Web of Science) were searched from 2007 to January 2018. Following the Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome and Study Design format, studies were eligible if they were randomized controlled trials involving adults, used a smartphone app as the primary or sole component of the physical activity intervention, used a no- or minimal-intervention control condition, and measured objective physical activity either in the form of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity minutes or steps. Study quality was assessed using a 25-item tool based on the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials checklist. A meta-analysis of study effects was conducted using a random effects model approach. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to examine whether intervention effectiveness differed on the basis of intervention length, target behavior (physical activity alone vs physical activity in combination with other health behaviors), or target population (general adult population vs specific health populations).
Following removal of duplicates, a total of 6170 studies were identified from the original database searches. Of these, 9 studies, involving a total of 1740 participants, met eligibility criteria. Of these, 6 studies could be included in a meta-analysis of the effects of physical activity apps on steps per day. In comparison with the control conditions, smartphone apps produced a nonsignificant (P=.19) increase in participants' average steps per day, with a mean difference of 476.75 steps per day (95% CI -229.57 to 1183.07) between groups. Sensitivity analyses suggested that physical activity programs with a duration of less than 3 months were more effective than apps evaluated across more than 3 months (P=.01), and that physical activity apps that targeted physical activity in isolation were more effective than apps that targeted physical activity in combination with diet (P=.04). Physical activity app effectiveness did not appear to differ on the basis of target population.
This meta-analysis provides modest evidence supporting the effectiveness of smartphone apps to increase physical activity. To date, apps have been most effective in the short term (eg, up to 3 months). Future research is needed to understand the time course of intervention effects and to investigate strategies to sustain intervention effects over time.
Summary
A systematic review and meta‐analysis were conducted to assess the effectiveness of app‐based mobile interventions for improving nutrition behaviours and nutrition‐related health outcomes, ...including obesity indices (eg, body mass index BMI) and clinical parameters (eg, blood lipids). Seven databases were searched for studies published between 2006 and 2017. Forty‐one of 10 132 identified records were included, comprising 6348 participants and 373 outcomes with sample sizes ranging from 10 to 833, including 27 randomized controlled trials (RCTs). A beneficial effect of app‐based mobile interventions was identified for improving nutrition behaviours (g = 0.19; CI, 0.06‐0.32, P = .004) and nutrition‐related health outcomes (g = 0.23; CI, 0.11‐0.36, P < .001), including positive effects on obesity indices (g = 0.30; CI, 0.15‐0.45, P < .001), blood pressure (g = 0.21; CI, 0.01‐0.42, P = .043), and blood lipids (g = 0.15; CI, 0.03‐0.28, P = .018). Most interventions were composed of four behaviour change technique (BCT) clusters, namely, “goals/planning,” “feedback/monitoring,” “shaping knowledge,” and “social support.” Moderating effects including study design, type of app (commercial/research app), sample characteristics (clinical/non‐clinical sample), and intervention characteristics were not statistically significant. The inclusion of additional treatment components besides the app or the number or type of BCTs implemented did not moderate the observed effectiveness, which underscores the potential of app‐based mobile interventions for implementing effective and feasible interventions operating at scale for fighting the obesity epidemic in a broad spectrum of the population.
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